EdwardsburgÂ?s electronic speed limit sign shot up, then stolen

EDWARDSBURG Â? Sometimes the stories told at local government meetings are more interesting than the business conducted.

The Edwarsburg-Ontwa Township Police Department bought an electronic speed sign this spring after sharing electronic sign rental fees with the City of Dowagiac in 2005.

The new sign cost $4,000 and rather than spend $400 extra for bullet-proof glass, regular glass was ordered because, as Police Chief Ken Wray said, such signs get shot up only in Detroit.

The sign was delivered in early June and placed along Elkhart Road for a week before being moved to Cass Street in the village of Edwardsburg for four days. Then it was taken to Section Street near the Edwardsburg Public Schools campus.

About four days later, someone shot it twice, which meant the insurance company paid out $400 in repairs. The police department then broke down and bought bullet-proof glass.

Â?It (the sign) was gone for 30 days, and we got it back in mid-July,Â? Wray said.

Police set up the sign on North Shore Drive at Eagle Lake, then it was taken to Brady Road on the lakeÂ?s south side. After another week, it was moved to May Street, just west of Martin Road, where it was stolen within seven or eight days.

Â?It was mounted on a speed limit sign,Â? said Jim Robinson, Edwardsburg village council president, Â?and they (the police) always put it above the sign so it is up in the air quite a way so no one can fool with it.Â?

The problem is that someone pulled the speed sign from the ground, dismantled the electronic speed sign and vanished with it.

The insurance company received another claim.

A new sign, expected to arrive soon, will be mounted differently to help prevent a re-occurrence, Wray said.

Â?These people are pretty industrious. It had to take them a while to get it off (of the speed limit sign),Â? he said.

Wray likes the way the sign works because it registers the speed and stores it along with the date and time.

Â?So we can use those speeds for statistical purposes later on,Â? he said.